Knitting-machine



N, PETERS. PHOTo-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C,

UNITE SATES A'IENT GFFICE.

JAMES F. IVATERHOUSE, OF GERMANTOVN, PENNSYLVANIA.

KNITTING-IVIACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,067, dated August 9, 1859. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. WATER- HoUsE, of Germantown, county ofPhiladelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Knitting-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon.

My invention relates to certain improvements in knitting machineswhereby a fabric of different colors and of any desired pattern may beproduced, patterns not limited to simple stripes and plaids, as producedby other knitting machines, but patterns of such a variegated characteras are produced on woven fabrics by Jacquard and other fancy looms.

My improvements consist-Firstly. In the application of a drum or itsequivalent` with detachable pegs to operate a kseries of independentthread guides which direct threads of different colors to the needles,substantially as described hereafter, so that any desired pattern may be4produced by a suitable adjustment of the pegs on the drum. Secondly. Ina certain device described hereafter for controlling such of the saidindependent thread guides as are not under the control of the pegs inthe drum. Thirdly. In a disk with projections of a peculiar form incombination with a ratchet wheel for imparting the desired movement tothe pegged drum. Fourthly. In devices described hereafter for impartinga combined lateral and vertical reciprocating motion to the needle bar.

In order to enable others skilled in this class of machinery to make anduse my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

On reference to the accompanying drawing which forms a part of thisspecification, Figure 1, is a front View of my improved knittingmachine. Fig. 2, a side view. Fig. 3, a sectional elevation. Fig. 4, aportion of Fig. 3, detached. Figs. 5 and 6, detached views of portionsof the machine.

Similar letters of reference allude to similar parts throughout theseveralviews.

A, and A, are the two side frames of the machine connected together bythe four transverse stays a, a, a2, a3.

B, is the main driving shaft, and to this shaft are secured theeccentric C, the cams D and E, and the cog wheel F, and the bevel wheelG, the duties of which will be particularly alluded to hereafter. Thecogwheel F, gears into another cog wheel H, the latter wheel havingtwice as many teeth as the former. The cog wheel H, turns freely on apin b, secured to the frame A, and has on each side inclined projectionsc, c.

Immediately above the wheel I-I, a stud d, is secured to the outside ofthe frame A, and to a pin passing through the end of this stud is hung alever' I, the long arm of which is slotted at the end, the short armbeing forked and the forked arm embracing the edge of the wheel H, andits angular projections, so that as the wheel revolves an intermittentvibrating motion will be imparted to the lever owing to the peculiarform of the inclined projections c, c.

The slotted end of the lever I, is connected to a projection on theslide J, one end of which passes through and is guided by an opening inthe frame A, the opposite end fitting into and being guided by anopening in the frame A. The slide J, has an opening throughout thegreater portion of its length, for the reception of the needle bars K,and K, which are connected together and which are arranged to slidefreely in a vertical direction on guides e, c, on the opposite ends ofthe opening of the slide J.

To the needle bars are connected two rods l\I and M', which pass throughand are guided by openings in the lower plate F, of the slide J, belowwhich plate they are connected by links L and L to pins 71., on therocking frame N, which will be best observed on reference to Fig. 5, therocking frame being hung at the opposite ends to pins c', one of whichis secured to each of the side frames of the machine.

It will be observed that the pins 7l, em-

braced by the lower ends of the links are considerably longer than thebreadth of the links, this is in order that the latter may slide freelyalong the pins without disturbing the lateral position of the rockingframe. This frame is connected near the middle to the rod I), which isscrewed to the strap Q, the latter being made in two halves so as toembrace the eccentric C on the main driving shaft B.

Each of the needle bars K and K, is furnished with a row of the ordinaryself act 'ing or hinged knitting needles each of which passes through anopening in the uppei plate g of the slide J.

R, is a bar which passes directly through the two frames A and A', eachend of the bar being secured to one of the frames by four set screws y',so that its position on the frame can be readily adjusted to a limitedextent. In this bar is a longitudinal opening directly above theneedles, and passing directly through the center of the bar is a pin t,to which are hung the thread guides S, and T, the opening of the barbeing of the peculiar form represented in the sectional views Figs. 3,and 4l, so as to allow for a free but limited vibration of the threadguides.

In close contiguity to the bar R, is a bent plate U, which I term thestriker. Each end of this plate is attached to an arm m, each arm beinghung to the central pin 25, which passes through the bar R, and each armpassing through slots in the bar, as best observed in the sectional viewFig. 6. The two arms are connected together by means of a rod V, to oneend of which is jointed a rod IV, the lower end of the latter beingconnected to an arm X, which has its fulcrum on a pin projecting fromthe frame A, the end of the arm X, being raised periodically during themovement of the machine.

In suitable boxes attached to the frames and above the thread guides ishung a shaft Y, to the end of which and outside the frame is secured aratchet wheel (2) between the teeth of which revolves a disk cam 3, onthe diagonal shaft 4, the latter is caused to turn in boxes projectingfrom the frame A, by the bevel wheel G, on the driving shaft B, gearinginto a similar bevel wheel on the said diagonal shaft.

The disk 3, has two inclined projections of peculiar form on the edge,which as the disk revolves catches on each tooth in succession of theratchet wheel, thereby moving the latter and with it the shaft Y partlyaround a given distance in the direction of the arrow and moving it backagain a less distance at every complete revolution of the driving shaft.To this shaft is secured a drum S, in the surface of which are a seriesof holes for receiving pegs.

The holes in the drum are arranged in rows parallel with the center ofthe shaft, there being as many holes in each row as there are threadguides, and each hole being directly above one of the said guides so asto coincide with the portion of the latter which projects upward abovethe top of the bar R.

To each thread guide is attached one end of a spiral spring 6, theopposite end of which is connected to a frame 7, which is permanentlyattached to the bar R.

In two brackets 8, 8, secured one to the inside of each of the oppositeframes A, and

A, turn the three rollers 9, 10, and 11, allv of which are furnished atone end with cog wheels gearing into each other.

On the upper roller 9, is a ratchet wheel 12, to the teeth of which isadapted the point of the pawl 13, the latter being connected to an armof the lever 14, which is hung to a pin on the frame A, the other arm ofthis lever resting on the pin of the cam E, so that as the latter'revolves the arm is raised periodically, the downward movement of thearm being effected by means of a spiral or other suitable spring.

A spring catch 15, prevents the ratchet wheel 12, from recoiling afterit has been moved partially around by the pawl 13.

To the top of the frames A, and A, or to the roof of the building inwhich the machine may be situated, is secured a frame 16,

containing a series of spools equal in numberA to that of the threadguides and needles, each spool turning on an independent pin. The threadfrom these spools passes upward over and through, the bar 17, downwardthrough holes in a plate 18, and thence through the eyes of the threadguides, where by the combined action ofthese guides and the needles, thethreads are knitted; the fabric passing downward between the needle barsK, and K, thence under t-he cross stay a', thence over the upper roller9, between the latter and the roller 10, and between the latter and theroller 11, and thence onto the floor or into a suitable receptacle.

On causing the main shaft B, to revolve the following movements willtake place: First. The vertical reciprocating movement of the needlebars and their needles, caused by the eccentric C. Second. The lateralmovement of the needle bars and their needles, caused by the movement ofthe slide J, which is operated by the inclosed projections on the wheelI-I. Third. The partial turning of the drum 5, first in one directionand' then in the other, caused by the disk 3, and its inclinedprojection. Fourth. The movement of the thread guides caused by the pegson the drum 5. Fifth. Another movement of the thread guides, caused bythe striker operated by the cam D. SiXth. The movement of the rollers 9,l0, and 11, by the pawl and ratchet wheel above described.

In ordinary knitting machines a. lateral reciprocating movement isimparted to the thread guides and a vertical reciprocating movement tothe needles.

In my improved machine the lateral position of the thread guides remainsalways the same and a combined lateral and vertical reciprocating motionis imparted to the needles by the devices above described. The object ofthese combined movements of the needles and the duties they performtoward the formation of the loops, will be readily understood by thosefamiliar with this class of machinery without any detailed description.

It should be understood that the especial object of my improvement is toproduce a knitted fabric of different colors and of any desired pattern,not limited to simple stripes or plaids of -different colors but suchvariegated patterns as may be produced in woven fabrics by the JacquardAor other fancy loom. In order to accomplish this end the spools in theframe 16, contain threads of different colors, and all the thread guidesare independent of each other and controlled'by the pegs on the drum 5,and the striker U, so that by the disposal of these pegs throughout thesurface of the drum the desired pattern may be formed.

Supposing the moving parts of the machine to be in the positionillustrated in Fig. 3, it will be observed that the thread guide S, hasbeen moved in the direction of the arrow by one of a row of the pegs inthe drum, and that the thread guide T, immediately behind the guide S,owing to the absence of a peg to coincide with it, is drawn by itsspiral spring 6, to an angle the reverse of that assumed by the guide S.IVhile the guides are in this position the needle a?, is about to seizethat of the guide T, and in order that thel hooks of the needles may bein a position to seize these threads the needle bar moves laterally.Immediately on the completion of this lateral movement the drum 5, whichhad previously moved in the direction of the arrow, now owing to thepeculiar form of the disk 3, moves back a short distance so that thethread guide S, owing to its spring 6, assumes the perpendicularposition illustrated in Fig. 4.

- Simultaneously with the retrograde motion of the drum the striker U,moved by the cam D, on the driving shaft, forces the thread guide T, toa vertical position coinciding with the guide S. By this movement thethread of the guide S,is lapped around the needle aa, and that of theguide T, around the needle y. At this point the guides remain stationarywhile the needle bar descends and the needles form the necessary loops.After the needles begin to rise the drum again moves in the direction ofthe arrow the pegs temporarily moving the thread guides whichimmediately recover their perpendicular position as soon as the pegs arefree from contact with the points of the guides. As soon as the latterhave escaped from the pegs the next row of pegs is in a position to actupon such of the guides as the pegs are arranged to coincide with, andthese begin to move the guides at an angle as the needles are about tocomplete their upward movement. A repetition of the above describedmovements takes lace on the further revolution of the driving shaft.

It will now be seen that the position assumed by each thread guide asthe machine is in motion must depend upon the pegs in the drum.

It has been previously remarked that there are in the drum a series ofrows of holes, and that every hole in each row coincides with one of thethread guides, now if one of the holes in a row has no peg the guidewhich coincides .with that hole will, as the drum revolves assume theposition of the guide T, the remaining holes having pegs will move theremaining guides to the posi* tion S. Supposing then that each guide hasdifferent colored threads they must appear on different sides of thefabric as the disposition of the pegs in the drum may determine. It willbe evident therefore that by a different arrangement of the pegs in thedifferent rows, different patterns may be produced, and these patternsof the most variegated and ornamental description.

Instead of the drum 5, an endless chain with pegged links such as isoccasionally used in looms for operating the heddles may be adopted,with a result precisely similar to that attained by the pegged drum.

I lay no general claim to thread guides arranged and operated to sotranspose the threads that they may be knitted first on one side, andthen on the other side of the fabric as this may be seen in the patentof I. Vickerstaif assignor to Martin Landenberger, granted March 23d1858, on which invention mine is designed as a marked improvement. But

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. Theapplication of a drum 5, or its equivalent with detachable pegs tooperate a series of independent thread guides having independent springswhen constructed and operating substantially as herein set forth and forthe purpose specified.

2. The striker U, or its equivalent, constructed and arranged in respectto the thread guides and operating substantially as specified so as t0control such of the thread guides as are not under the control of any ofthe pegs in the drum.

3. Moving the pegged drum or its equivalent, at intervals, first in onedirection and then in another by means of the revolving disk 3 and itstwo inclined projections, in

0 combination With the ratchet Wheel 2.

il. Imparting a combined lateral and vertical reciprocating motion tothe needle bars by means of the devices herein described, or theirequivalents.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my 15 naine to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

